Scientists at the University of California San Diego have created a smartphone case to measure the level of glucose in the blood. It is being developed by a team led by professors Patrick Mercier and Joseph Wang.

How does it look?

The 3D-printed case is named the GPhone. It draws its power from the phone's battery. There is a reusable sensor at one of the corners. This sensor is connected to a printed circuit board. The removable stylus on the side is filled with pellets. One pellet is dispensed at a time, and each pellet is for one-time use only. The product is still in the prototype phase.

How does it work?

One has to fetch a pellet from the stylus and place it on the sensor. A magnet holds it in place, and the sensor is powered up.

The next step involves placing a sample of blood on the pellet. Glucose oxidase, an enzyme present in the pellet, reacts with the glucose in the blood and generates an electric signal. The signal's strength is directly proportional to the glucose concentration in the blood. The electrodes of the sensor measure the signal and transmit the data to the smartphone via Bluetooth. The data is then presented to the user as a number on an application built for the purpose.

Data collected over time can be used to track progress, or interpreted in other meaningful ways.
Each test run takes around 20 seconds. Once done, the pellet is thrown away, which deactivates the sensor.

Challenges at hand

1. Cost of the pellets is more than the paper strips used in conventional test kits.
2. Each test run needs at least 12 drops of blood! Research is underway to reduce it to the bare minimum.

Last year's Amazon Kindle Oasis has got an upgrade. The newer variant is slimmer than its predecessor and comes with a 7-inch display. Prominent newly-added features include water resistance, support for audiobooks, and ambient light sensor.

The screen is an inch larger, and the count of LED backlights has also increased from 10 to 12. The sharpness of 300 pixels-per-inch is retained. The much-needed ambient light sensor is added, thus making it capable of automatically adjusting light depending on the surrounding conditions.

The new Kindle Oasis is IPX8 certified, making it the first of its name to be resistant to water up to an hour and under 6.5 feet. There are two variants of the device - one with 8 GB internal storage, and the other with 32 gigs memory. More space means more books, including support for audiobooks. The only downside is that the audio output has to be relayed to a Bluetooth-enabled speaker or earpiece since there is no headphone jack.

The design has been retained, including the much-talked-about sidebar. It is heavier (194 grams) because the body is made from a single piece of aluminum. Amazon is claiming a six-week recharge cycle on the new Kindle Oasis.

In the US, the 8 GB model is priced at $250, while the one with 32 GB memory costs $280 ($350 if cellular connectivity supported). There are two new covers as well, made of fabric (priced at $45) or leather (costs $60). They do not have those extra batteries but can be used as stands for hands-free usage. Pre-orders are open, and shipping starts at the end of the month.

In India, the 8 GB variant is priced at ₹21,999 and the 32 GB variant (WiFi and 3G) costs ₹28,999. The fabric cover is priced at ₹2,999, and the leather one costs ₹3,999. You can pre-order it now, and shipping starts from the 15th of the next month.

Hewlett-Packard has launched the fourth-generation of their Z-series workstations in three new variants. They are aimed at professionals who need more-and-more computing power in their day-to-day work, including people creating 360-degree video and Virtual Reality content.

HP Z4

It is the entry-level system among the three. It features a single Intel Xeon W chipset (you can choose from the eight available options), up to 256 GB DDR4 SDRAM, up to 4 TB storage, and eleven graphics options from AMD and Nvidia. The chassis comes with front and rear handles. HP Z4 will be available in November later this year at a starting price of $1,239.

HP Z6

It is the next-in-line and cozily sits between the Z4 and the Z8. It supports dual chipset, and you can choose from a wide range of Intel Xeon's family of Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum processors. Other features include up to 384 GB DDR4 SDRAM (twelve slots of 32 gigs each), up to 4 TB storage, and thirteen graphics options from AMD and Nvidia. Connectivity options include ten USB 3.1 (four in the front and six at the rear), two USB Type-C ports, Ethernet port, and serial ports for mouse and keyboard. Bluetooth and WiFi are also supported. HP Z6 will be available next month onwards at a starting price of $1,919.

HP Z8

At the top sits the Z8. One can choose the Operating System to buy along with - Windows 10 Pro for Workstations or Linux. It weighs a whopping 49.4 lb (22.4 kg). Dual CPUs are supported, and you can choose from a wide range of Intel Xeon family processors ranging from Bronze and going all the way up to Platinum. The highest variant (2.5 GHz Intel Xeon Platinum 8180) comes with 28 cores, thus making it 56 cores owing to the dual chipset support. All this processing power reportedly makes the Z8 capable of doing 8K video edits or running real-time 3D simulations. There is also a mechanism to cool the second CPU with fresh air than with recycled air from the first chipset's duct. Other features include up to 3 TB DDR4 SDRAM (twenty-four slots of 125 GB each), up to 4 TB of storage, and thirteen graphics options from AMD and Nvidia. Connectivity options include ten USB 3.1 ports, two USB Type-C ports, and an option to add Thunderbolt 3 as well. HP Z8 will be available next month onwards at a starting price of $2,439.

Watch the introductory video below:

Logitech has unveiled their latest wireless keyboard, the Logitech Craft, at IFA 2017 in Berlin. What is new in this smart keyboard is the presence of a multi-function dial. It is aimed at professional designers and other creative professionals to help increase their productivity. The idea is to use the keys for typing, the mouse to navigate, and the newly added dial to access critical software functions and toolsets.

The keys on the Logitech Craft are backlit when needed. The intensity of the light adjusts automatically depending on the room conditions. It can be wirelessly connected via Bluetooth or a USB plug. An Easy-Switch button will switch the connection over up to three connected devices.

Aptly named the Crown, the smart dial is located at the top-left. It is made up of aluminum. It can be used to perform various context-specific actions when running a list of software on your Windows PC or Mac. Think of it as a second mouse, but with auto-defined actions (depending on the software in use) on touching, tapping or turning the dial.

For instance, the knob can change the brush size in a painting application, or adjust the image's brightness, contrast, and saturation in Adobe Photoshop. It can also alter the font size in Windows Word, or choose a chart type in Windows Excel. Other than app-specific functions, the Crown can also adjust system volume and help navigate across desktops or applications in use.

Logitech Craft comes with a built-in battery that is chargeable via USB. The manufacturer promises one-week backup before charging again. It is due for release next month at a price of $200.

Watch the keyboard in action in the video below:

Due to limited space, or budget, or both, people tend to avoid investing in a high-end audio setup for their television sets. Sound bars try to solve this problem as they deliver loud sound while occupying lesser space. Sky, the cable provider from England, has teamed up with French start-up Devialet to create Sky Soundbox.

The collaboration involves Devialet designing and producing the speaker, while Sky is just adding its brand name to the product.

Sky Soundbox comes in a compact black package (375x210x95 mm). It consists of six woofers and three full-range speakers. The walls of the room (in which the soundbar is deployed) are used to reflect the sound for an immersive experience.

On the connectivity front, Sky Soundbox supports HDMI, optical cable, and Bluetooth 4.1. In the UK, the speaker will be available in autumn this year at varied prices. Sky subscribers will be charged £299 ($390 approx.), while those who have the top Sky cable plan will pay £249 ($325 approx.). The retail price is £799 ($1,045 approx.).

Intel's latest product, the Movidius Neural Compute Stick, packs deep learning algorithms into a standard USB drive. The idea is to make the powerful neural networks and Artifical Intelligence systems not only limited to large organizations but also available to small-scale businesses and developers.

The aim is to allow a broad range of AI applications to be built for mobile devices.

The Intel Movidius Neural Compute Stick is powered by a Myriad 2 visual processing unit (VPU). The VPU is specifically designed for handheld and wearable devices. Faster processing power (more than 100 gigaflops) is combined with low power consumption (1W) and small size. All these properties make it a perfect fit for the use case in question.

The USB device can run the standard neural networks deployed in the industry. It can be tweaked to run custom-designed networks as well. It can also be used as an accelerator to boost the power of an existing computer.

The Intel Movidius Neural Compute Stick is priced at $79.

Watch the product in the video below:

The Google Daydream mobile Virtual Reality platform is getting an interesting expansion. In this world of smartphone-based VR headsets, Google has announced at the I/O event that standalone VR headsets will be manufactured.

What this effectively means is that the new headsets will not rely on any device whatsoever, be it a console, PC, or smartphone.

Even though there is not much information regarding how this is supposed to work, Google has hinted at the use of WorldSense to achieve the same. The technology will not require any external sensors. It will employ inside-out positional tracking instead.

As far as motion control is concerned, the sketches presented by the company at the keynote hints at a controller just like the one that ships with Daydream View.

Qualcomm has announced upgrades to its mid-range chipset line, viz. Snapdragon 653 and 625, with the introduction of Snapdragon 660 and 630 respectively. The new processors are focused towards enhancing the capabilities of their predecessors, in turn giving more power to OEMs to produce powerful mid-range devices.

The chipsets are equipped with Qualcomm Spectra 160 premium camera ISP, a feature that was present only in the top-range (800 tier) Snapdragons until now. It will result in accurate color reproduction, dual pixel autofocus, smooth optical zoom, and superior low-light photography. It also paves the way for more dual-camera smartphones in the future since the power efficiency and throughput will be improved.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 (only) comes with the proprietary Hexagon 680 DSP. It enables high performance and power efficient processing of computer vision, imaging, and machine intelligence workloads.

When compared to its predecessor, the Snapdragon 660 is 20% more performant in the Kryo (octa-core) 260 CPU and 30% in the Adreno 512 GPU. These numbers are 10% in the CPU (octa-core Cortex A53) and 30% in the Adreno 508 GPU for Snapdragon 630.

A 14nm FinFET process is utilized in both the processors. They are capable of recording and playing 4K videos, and can support up to 8 gigs of RAM. The 660 supports displays up to QHD (2K) resolution, while the 630 limits it to FHD/QXGA (1080p).

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 is already available in the market. The Snapdragon 630 will start shipping by the end of this month.

Watch the related video below:

Samsung has finally decided to foray into the portable gaming world with the launch of Notebook Odyssey at the ongoing Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

The portable gaming device comes in two variants - one with a 15.6-inch display and the other with a 17.3-inch screen (with a resolution of 1920x1080 in both cases). The 15.6-inch version offers 280 nits of brightness, while there are 300 nits available on its elder sibling. Both the models feature anti-glare surface for reduced reflection and are powered by 7th generation Intel Core i7 quad-core processor.

On the graphics front, the 15-inch model is fitted with Nvidia GTX1050 GPU. Note that it is the most entry-level card in the GTX 10 series. There is no word yet on the GPU of the Odyssey 17. Anything above 1050 will be an improvement, however!

On the hardware front, Odyssey 15 supports up to 32 GB of DDR4 RAM, 256 GB solid-state drive, and 1 TB hard-disk drive. The bigger model has double the capacity of RAM and SSD, while the HDD capacity remains the same.

Samsung Notebook Odyssey comes with something called a HexaFlow Vent at the bottom, whose job is to keep the device cool during gameplay. To enhance the storage and memory, the vent can be opened to fit in more hardware.

The keys on the smaller variant have 0.3 mm crater keycaps along with backlit WASD keys for better gaming control. On the 17-inch variant, things are taken to another level. The keycaps are 0.5 mm volcano, and the backlit color of each cap can be customized to suit one's need.

The battery capacity is 43 Wh on the smaller model, and 93 Wh on the bigger one. Odyssey 15 comes in black and white color options and weighs around 2.5 kg. Odyssey 17 is manufactured only in black and weighs 3.8 kg approximately.

Details regarding pricing and availability of Samsung Notebook Odyssey are yet to be announced.

October 23, 2016:

Nintendo has released a video showing the looks of the much awaited Nintendo Switch, aka the Nintendo NX.

April 27, 2016:

We have a good and a bad news for avid gamers. The bad news is that the mysterious gaming console from the house of Nintendo (yes, we are talking about the NX) is not going to launch anytime this year. Instead, it will launch, wait for it, in March next year. That's the good news.

After a lot of speculations, Nintendo has finally confirmed the NX launch date via a tweet posted by them. After a lot of fake leaks regarding the console's controller, we are happy to have an official statement. A lot of rumors over time have also hinted towards the NX being a hybrid of console and handheld form, but sadly there is no official information that can clear the air around the matter.

Additionally, according to another tweet, the upcoming Legend of Zelda game will simultaneously launch on Wii U and NX in 2017. In fact, it will be the focus of the next press event by Nintendo, which is scheduled for June this year. Unfortunately, this means that the gaming community will have to wait almost an year to get their hands on the new game. Better late than never.

Miitomo, the smartphone game by Nintendo which was launched earlier this year has now been played by more than 10 million people. As a result, the company has decided to bring more apps to smartphones, and this list includes the famous Fire Emblem and Animal Crossing.

Most of us use memory cards with our smartphones and digital cameras to make sure we have that extra storage when it is needed the most. At Photokina 2014, SanDisk introduced a 512 GB memory card. Taking this a step further, they have now revealed a prototype of the 1 TB SDXC card at the same event this year held in Cologne, Germany.

Going a few years down the memory lane, the first SanDisk 64 MB SD card was introduced sixteen years ago. (link)

Increasing demand for 4K and 8K video content, and applications employing Virtual Reality, 360-degree video solutions, and 24x7 video surveillance systems are perfect candidates that expect more-and-more storage in the devices they run on. This 1 TB card should fit their purpose.

“Just a few short years ago the idea of a 1 TB capacity point in an SD card seemed so futuristic – it is amazing that we are now at the point where it is becoming a reality. With the growing demand for applications like VR, we can certainly use 1 TB when we are out shooting continuous high-quality video. High-capacity cards allow us to capture more without interruption, streamlining our workflow, and eliminating the worry that we may miss a moment because we have to stop to swap out cards,”

said Sam Nicholson, CEO of Stargate Studios and member of the American Society of Cinematographers.

Since this is just a prototype, price and availability dates for the product are not known. However, the price can be speculated from the fact that the 512 GB card retailed at $799 in the beginning. The figure later fell to $599.

Milagrow has today launched the AguaBot 5.0 in India. It is a wet mopping, dry cleaning, and floor vacuuming robot.

The robot comes with a water reservoir and smart mop attachment of size 350x210 mm. The front portion of the mop will do the wet mopping while the back portion would wipe the floor dry.

Milagrow AguaBot 5.0 comes with dual suction control, which gets activated by manually pressing a button on the remote control, or when the AguaBot senses extra dirt. Needless to say, more battery is needed to use this feature. The maximum suction can go up to 45 W.

The AguaBot 5.0 has a brushless cleaning mechanism. It is equipped with extra thick anti-slippage tires and state of the art automobile suspension technology. Movement sensors have been concealed above the universal front wheel. It can climb door sills up to 22 mm. It can cover almost 3500 square feet in about 120 minutes.

The battery used is removable and is easily replaceable. The High-Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filter can be washed using cold water.

The robot is available for ₹31,990 ($480 approx.). This includes a two-year warranty period.

How does it work?

Following are the steps to be followed:

1. Fill the water in the water reservoir.
2. Put the mop at the bottom of the water tank.
3. Attach the reservoir to the robot.
4. Sit back and relax.

Watch it in action:

Google has finally launched the newest version of Google Chromecast and Chromecast Audio in India. Note that these devices were first unveiled sometime last year.

The new Chromecast comes with a sleek design, and can hence easily fit into TVs with crowded ports. It is expected to make streaming faster since it supports the latest WiFi standards. The device is priced at ₹3,399 ($50 approx.) on the Google Play Store. It is expected to hit the usual online marketplaces in the coming months.

Chromecast Audio is a device that plugs into speakers to stream radio, podcasts and music over WiFi. The small device can be plugged into your speakers. With the multi-room feature, multiple speakers can be connected together to create a perfect home-entertainment system. It is also priced at ₹3,399 ($50 approx.).

The Chromecast app has been updated to make it easier to search for content. Functionality for improved search and personalised suggestions has been implemented.

Amazon had today launched Kindle Oasis in India. It is the eighth generation of Kindle, the famous e-reader series by the American giant. It features an incredibly thin and light design. Its USP is the charging cover with a dual-battery system (more on this later).

The Oasis features a thin touch 300 ppi Paperwhite display, and an ergonomic grip. The built-in front light has 60% more LEDs when compared to previous versions. The device has a metal-plated featherweight polymer frame. The metal plating is done by the process of structural electroplating, thus making the device lightweight.

The reader comes in an entirely different shape than its predecessors. The center of gravity is shifted to the user's palm. This ensures that the device rests in the hand, much like the spine of a book. A built-in accelerometer detects which hand is being used, and automatically rotates the page and the physical page turn buttons accordingly.

The cover fits closely around the bezel of the device. It is a smart cover, which means it turns the Oasis' screen on/off when flipped. Oasis features a dual-battery system, one in the device itself and the other in its leather cover! If the cover is connected to the device, the battery in the cover automatically charges the device's battery. Both the batteries can be charged together via the wall socket.

Kindle Oasis weighs 131 grams. It is 3.4 mm thick at its thinnest point, and is available for pre-order at a price of ₹23,999 ($360 approx.) for the WiFi-only variant, and ₹27,999 ($420 approx.) for the WiFi-cum-3G variant.

Acer has expanded its Chromebook series of laptops with the launch of Acer Chromebook 14. It is unique from its predecessors because it features a 14-inch display, and an all-aluminum chassis. The USP of this device is the 14-hour battery life, as claimed by the manufacturer (more on this later).

The device comes with a 720p webcam with 1280x720 resolution, HD audio and video recording. It has dual stereo speakers and an integrated digital microphone.

The IPS display is 20% larger than 11-inch models. It comes in full HD (1920 x 1080) and HD (1366x768) resolutions. Wide viewing angles up to 170 degrees are supported. The display boasts of ComfyView low-reflection and anti-glare properties, which help in reducing strain to the eyes.

The 14-hour battery life is advertised for the models with HD display. Buy the one with FHD, and you end up getting around 12-hour battery juice (which is still impressive). The Acer Chromebook 14 runs on Intel Celeron processor (dual-core or quad-core), paired with either 2 GB or 4 GB dual-channel LPDDR3 SDRAM. The internal storage is either 16 GB or 32 GB, which is supported by 100 GB free storage on Google Drive.

The laptop weighs 1.55 kg, and measures 0.67 inches (17 mm) at its thickest point. With an all-metal body and such thinness, the device appears to be a Macbook Air clone.

On the connectivity front, it comes with two USB 3.1 ports and an HDMI port. Usual options including WiFi and Bluetooth are available.

Acer Chromebook 14 will be available next month onwards. Price for the premium model with FHD display, 32 GB storage and 4 GB RAM is $300.

iRobot has announced yet another robot, the Braava jet Mopping Robot, to its series of home offerings. It is designed to mop hard floor surfaces with high amounts of traffic, such as kitchen and bathroom.

The device features a compact design. It comprises of a vibrating cleaning head, a precision jet spray and a set of cleaning pads to lift dirt and stains.

There are three cleaning modes, one for each type of the cleaning pad, viz. wet, damp and dry mode. In the wet mode, the Wet Mopping pad will be used to clean dirt and stains on well-sealed floors in a triple-pass. In the damp mode, the Damp Sweeping pad will clean the furniture, floors, tiles and stone for dust and dirt in a double-pass. Both these modes involve cleaning with water. In the dry mode, the Dry Sweeping pad will clean the hard floors for dirt, dust and pet hair in a single-pass. Moreover, the robot will automatically decide the cleaning mode based upon the pad attached to it.

Braava jet comes packaged with a lithium-ion battery. The box contains two cleaning pads of each type. Extra pads can be bought separately.

The device is smart enough to detect and avoid any obstacles. It is also capable of accessing hard-to-reach places, including under kitchen cabinets and around toilet seats. There is also a Virtual Wall mode, which can be used to define a boundary beyond which the robot won’t travel.

The Braava jet Mopping Robot is available at a price of $199 starting next month. Braava jet cleaning pads are separately available for $7.99 for a box of ten. The washable cleaning pads are separately available for $19.99 USD for a box of two.

Samsung has today announced the launch of Samsung Portable SSD T3. It is a palm-sized, external Solid State Drive (SSD). It is equipped with their proprietary Vertical NAND (V-NAND) and SSD TurboWrite technology, thus providing advanced performance.

The Portable SSD T3 offers fast read and write speeds. It drive comes with sequential read/write speeds of up to 450 megabytes per second (MB/s) with a USB 3.0 Type-C interface. The responsiveness is as fast as internal SSD with random read/write speed up to 240 times faster than external HDD.

The Portable SSD T3 has a slim and compact design. It weighs about 51 g, and measures 74.0x58.0x10.5 mm. It features premium aesthetics such as dark silver metal with black design and anti-scratch urethane coating.

It has a metal body with a shock resistant internal frame. It is shock resistant up to 1,500 G and resistant up to 2 meter drop test. It has a thermal guard, which efficiently manages workload to prevent overheating.

T3 uses exFAT as its default file recognition format. It can be controlled via an Android app, which supports password changes and remaining capacity checks.

The new Portable SSD T3 will go on sale from 21st of this month. It is priced at ₹10,999 ($165 approx.) for 250 GB, ₹18,999 ($285 approx.) for 500 GB, ₹37,999 ($565 approx.) for 1 TB and ₹74,999 ($1,120 approx.) for 2 TB.

The drive comes with a 3 year warranty. It will be available both online and offline. You can order it on Amazon, Flipkart or Snapdeal.

Zebronics has today unveiled its first Bluetooth game controllers for Android devices. The ZEB-75WG and ZEB-350WG gaming controllers are aimed at bringing an uninterrupted gaming experience, converting the smartphones or tablets into a pocket into gaming consoles at the same time.

The pads are embodied with 8 ways direction buttons which are designed to fit perfectly in the user's fingers. These are backed with Turbo and Auto mode buttons. They are also built-in with 2 analog sticks.

These controllers are ergonomically and aesthetically designed with a comfortable rubber grip and sturdy clamp matched with slip proof handle to play for longer hours without discomfort. The ZEB-75WG comes with spring loaded mount for mobile while ZEB-350WG comes with Stainless steel telescopic spring mount for mobiles and tablets. Both models are equipped with Bluetooth 3.0 and come with built-in rechargeable batteries.

They also encompass 12 fire buttons with mode switch option.

The 75WG is priced at ₹1,900 ($30 approx.), while the 350WG is priced at ₹3,600 ($55 approx.).

Zebronics has launched the ZEB-3203LED TV in India. It is a stylish 32-inch (80 cms) HD LED TV with a lot of awesome features and an elegant design.

The slim depth and narrow bezel design nearly eliminates the space between the screen and the bezel. It possesses a sleek look.

The device offers a superior dynamic contrast ratio of 300000:1. Now see the colors how they were meant to be seen with 16.7 million display colors.

It boasts of an extra wide viewing angle of 178 degrees (both vertically and horizontally) thus giving the best view from any angle.

The device is backed by 12 W sound output. These powerful speakers reproduce a varied range of sound from rich bass to full audio spectrum, adding an extra punch to the audio experience. There is also a heightened sense of depth in the audio.

It is very efficient in terms of power. Enhancing power utility in the panel, this TV has ultra-low power consumption.

Gamers can configure resolution settings up to 16,000 counts per inch (CPI) and down to one millisecond of customizable response time, equaling zero lag time.

The display is located at the tip of the user's index finger. The players can personalize it to track their stats, change profiles, see their settings as well as set custom logos and animations. With tactile alerts, the mouse is no longer merely an input device - gamers can now feel in-game events.

The sensor module on the device is removable, allowing gamers to swap to a laser sensor or other future options. No need to buy a new mouse every time! The mouse cover is swappable to ones with different designs and surfaces.

The sensor has the ability to accurately track movement speeds of up to 300 inches per second at 50 g of acceleration.

It comes packaged with a 3 feet rubber cable and a 6 feet braided cable.

The mouse features a soft-touch surface with sculpted side grips that provide a raised texture for maximum comfort along with durable, double-shot injected left and right buttons.

The device will be available in Spring this year for $99.99. Optional sensor and mouse covers will also be available alongwith.

Love counter-strike? Count your headshots now! Is it the most powerful gaming mouse in the world?